Take Time to Realize
by SlinkyT
Summary: "The bottom line is we never fall in love with the people we're supposed to." - Jodi Picoult
1. The Woes of a Gamer

AN: Hello, all! It's been a while but a new, multi-chapter story, is finally here. It's actually quite elaborately planned out, and I really hope you enjoy it, because I discovered both of these AU's at the same time just kind of meshed them together.

I also created a tumblr account for PURELY my Cherry stories, so if that's all you want to read from me, I will also be updating my stories there and you can find that here or whenever you need it on my fan fiction account. And I will take any requests for stories and whatnot on that account, which may not always be posted on here. (:

Th URL is: cherryforthesoul(dot)tumblr(dot)com

Anyway, on to the story, review, comment, just read it, really. (:

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><p>Mike gathered a few of his video games, Xbox only, because that's all that Blaine had, and after a wave goodbye to his parents, who were sitting in the living room with their respective laptops, was out the door. It was the first week of summer break and already he felt like he was running out of things to consume his time. Best friend, sidekick, wingman, Blaine Warbler, suggested that time together could ease their sun weary hearts. He was rather dramatic when it came to, well, everything. The only problem was a pest that you couldn't exactly squash with the heel of your shoe.<p>

Now, she wasn't very pest-like when she was upstairs and they were in the basement, but, as of the end of the school year Blaine screwed them over.

Literally.

Ever sense his fathers found Kurt and him in a…compromising position on the couch downstairs, all guys only had access to the living room, kitchen, dining room, and front door. Even Mike. Now, nobody can say for sure they were literally screwing, but Mike sure as hell hoped he had enough fun that it was worth it.

Mike arrived rather early in the afternoon, not being able to get his body to sleep much later than normal, because for months he was used to being on school time. Now was just a matter of figuring out what Mike time was. It would consist of pushing game play into the middle of the night, and inevitably pushing wake up time with it.

Almost per routine, Blaine didn't come to the door right away. Mike never knew what Blaine was always doing in those few minutes before he answered the door, and honestly, he didn't care as long as the door eventually opened. And seeing as his parents were at work, Mike didn't hesitate in ringing the doorbell an excessive amount of times before knocking again.

"Slow your roll, crazy legs!" He heard from the other side of the door, causing him to roll his eyes and retire against the door frame in feigned exasperation. He couldn't really be mad at Blaine, he was just typically an impatient person when it came to game time. The door opened moments later and on the other side was Blaine in his usual attire, despite Mike's efforts to change that. He had pants that cut off at the shin and a polo on, which Mike had shot down on multiple occasions that Blaine's legs "looked like Chewbacca." His only response was that Kurt like it, and look at where that got them.

No basement and quite possibly an annoying tag along.

Blaine gestured for Mike to come in, taking a few games from him and kicked the door closed, which was only an acceptable action when his Dads weren't around. Immediately Mike followed the newly learned procedure and toed his shoes off at the door, leaving them behind.

"What are we playing first?" Blaine asked, flipping through the cases that Mike brought along with him.

Here's the deal:

Blaine's dads were strict on the ratings of games that he was allowed to play, buy, view, and Mario Kart could only last for so long. Mike's parents, however, let him freely purchase games with his own money, but the system itself was only allowed a certain amount of hours a week, which Mike had to record for his parents. That's what he got for them having such professional careers, it had a habit of leaking into their home life.

So, under the circumstances it only made sense for Mike to bring the unlimited games to the unlimited system. They were pretty much set for the summer.

Blaine's home was usually the place of play, not only because of the amount of time they could spend playing, but also because on occasion, Mike's parents would work from home, and in game trash talk was not tolerated. So, they just played it safe.

They made their way to the living room, Mike taking a detour through the kitchen to grab a 2 liter of soda and the half bag of chips in the pantry. That was always his unspoken duty that had developed over the past few weekends he hung out here towards the end of the year.

"Portal?" Mike offered and grabbed a handful of Doritos and eating a few before setting the bag in the mutual space of the coffee table. He then sank into the cushions of the couch which was infinitely more comfortable than his own, or just greener on the other side.

Blaine grabbed the controllers from the large entertainment center, an added bonus of his house, and tossed one to Mike before taking a seat at his side.

"Watch the stairs," Blaine warned and nodded his head up towards the staircase that led to his own room as well as his sister's. "Sis' cage is unlocked today, but she's not doing good." He looked over at Mike and then back to the screen. "Finn broke up with her," he stated simply, the universal inevitable frustration being rekindled.

"I just got here, man, at least let me have some fun before you tell me some other guy broke up with your sister," Mike stayed casually resigned against the couch. "Although, this one you could see coming from a mile away."

"Not all of them have been that bad," Blaine corrected and then selected the Co-Op option on the game.

"Yeah, well, Finn is a douche bag. I get it, fresh meat and all, but man, you think the underclassmen would get it by now, too. What's she even doing dating a junior? She's a freshman." Mike shook his head, and gave up his argument, they both knew it wasn't a discussion worth having.

"Well, it's too late now."

Blaine copied Mike's actions as the game started and seeing as they had played this particular game multiple times, for the most part they didn't have to discuss things, unless Blaine was having one of those days.

They played in silence, and then, as they entered the next area, Blaine blindly directed his player forward into the space, a habit of his, and it wasn't until Mike's character look left and he begin seeing the writing flash up on the bottom of the screen did he freak out.

"Turrets!" He exclaimed, Blaine jumped and soon the screen was flashing red as Blaine was getting shot at numerous times, his reflexes not nearly as quick as they needed to be.

"What? Where are they coming from?" He said just as loudly in return and sat up straighter, his character now frantic.

"Turrets!" Mike repeated with urgency. "Right there! Blaine! Get back over here!" He yelled as the screen on Blaine's side tilted and then fell over, character collapsing to the ground. Mike dropped the controller and dropped his head into his hands.

"Blaine." Mike said sternly to which he looked over at his friend. "How many times do we have to go over this?" He hesitated and ran a hand through his short hair, tugging slightly in frustration. "Don't walk blind." He said with a serious expression, voice slow and words clear to make sure Blaine understood.

Blaine nodded sheepishly and then looked to the stairs as they both heard footsteps.

"What are you two yelling about?" At this moment Rachel, Blaine's little sister entered the room with crossed arms, and seemingly tired expression on her face. She had her hair pushed back with a headband. She wore a white loose shirt and jeans that went straight down her legs, not constricting or flaring. Blaine waved her off.

"It's just a game, Rach," Blaine assured her, but she walked to the couch despite his efforts and casually sat between them, pulling her legs up and crossing them.

Mike's eyes stayed on the screen as the game came up again and they entered the area in which they had previously failed. Mike reached across the couch to grab his friend's wrist, stopping him from moving and Rachel shifted out of the way with exaggerated exclamation.

"Hey!" Mike drew his hand back, elbowing her in the leg.

"Hey, yourself. If your brother wasn't such a frantic puppy, I wouldn't have to stop him." Rachel laughed at the accuracy of Mike's words.

"He is sort of a puppy, isn't he?" Rachel reached over and pet Blaine's unruly hair playfully, a touch that was shrugged off.

"What kind of dog do you think he is, Rach? Golden Retriever?" Mike asked with a grin and leaned past the younger girl to look at his friend.

Rachel shook her head, a proud smirk on her face.

"I was thinking more Cocker Spaniel," she said through laughter and Blaine pushed her shoulder, bumping her into Mike.

"Can you just go upstairs and leave us alone?" Blaine mumbled, while Mike nodded slightly in agreement.

"Hey, this is mutual space," Rachel commented and turned to lay her head on Blaine's legs and put her feet in Mike's lap, who was too bust playing to notice. She closed her eyes, like maybe she was going to fall asleep there. Blaine eyed her before looking over at Mike and catching his attention with a small wave. He nodded towards the ground in front of the couch, to which there was a silent understanding on Mike's end.

Blaine held up three fingers, then dropped each one and when he only had a fist he pushed her shoulders and Mike simultaneously pushed her feet, her eyes flying open and she let out a small squeak as she hit the floor. The boys high fived across the now empty place on the couch and laughed loudly as she huffed on the ground.

"Jerks," she muttered under here breath and got up, brushing her self off before heading back to the stairs.

"Our laps aren't mutual space!" Blaine called when she got halfway up the steps their eyes fixated on the screen. "Plus, you know you love us!" She laughed sarcastically.

"I'm obligated to love you, Blainers," she leaned up against the railing at the use of his highly annoying nickname. "I just have to tolerate crazy legs, here." She gestured to the taller lankier male.

"And the feeling is mutual Miss. Basement Berry," he said with a smirk, recalling the time he'd gone downstairs, before being banned, of course, and she was singing to a camera. He hadn't caught any of her voice, before she'd quickly jumped up and hurriedly explained herself. He could only assume that her genes were similar to that of her brother and she had a decent amount of singing ability.

"You swore you wouldn't say anything about that!" She spat as her face flushed and she said with an embarrassed expression.

"I say a lot of things," Mike said casually as he shot a blue portal, too busy focus on the infinite momentum to care. "Plus, you started it with the crazy legs."

"You know, sometimes you're worse then Blaine," the referenced was laughing under his breath, glancing occasionally at his sister who refused to go up the stairs.

"But I'm also nicer to look at. It balances out." He retorted to which she stomped up the stairs in annoyance.

"She's right by the way," Blaine commented. "You're much better at annoying her than I am."

"Here's the deal," Mike started, still focused on the game at the same time, as if his though process didn't take that much effort because it made sense to him. "She's been your sister since she was born. You've only been my close friend for about a semester. You have had an outlet. A single, lonely child such as myself have years of pent up sibling rage that I never got to enjoy, so she's the next best thing."

"Man, if our Dads ever wanted to adopt a third kid, it would have to be you," Blaine joked and Mike just went with it.

"Hey, if it gets my parents off my back then I'm all for it."

The fell silent as they entered the next testing area, and immediately Mike located their target. He pointed to the screen. "Get that weighted cube over there." He said surely.

"What? Where?" Blaine asked, the camera on his half of the screen doing circles.

"Right there, man," he said, raising his finger to the part of the screen where the cube was in clear vision.

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Dude, the cube is right there!" Mike burst, not being able to contain his frustration.

"No, it's not!"

"Yes, look…turn…a little more," Mike had abandoned his own controller and focused on instructing Blaine in the right direction instead of doing it for him.

"Now straight…"

"What…just straight?"

"Yes…a little more."

"Okay."

"Now jump."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I swear, even Rach would be better than you at this game." Mike grinned and seeing as now Blaine new where the cube was, and where to place it, the puzzle was completed quickly.

"Hey, that one hurt a little," Blaine replied with a reluctant tone to confirm his friend's belief.

"Yeah, but it's true."


	2. Picture Perfect Problem

A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and what I have of this story so far! I really enjoy writing this, but I just hope I'm getting the characters in a way that you also enjoy. My goal is to alternate posting chapters between this story and the other story I've written as often as possible. :) It's theme is based on the TV show "Lie to Me" and you can check it out on my profile. :)

I hope you enjoy and please, please review! Tell me whatever you feel the need to say, corrections (grammatical or structural), complaints, suggestions, anything and it only takes a few moments. :)

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><p>Seeing as Blaine's house wasn't always the place of gaming, it was now Mike's turn to wait for his competitor and ally. Blaine wasn't as good at waking up at a reasonable time, plus he took longer to get ready, so Mike had plenty of time to just hang around his house and thumb through the books for his summer reading, which he would have to do eventually. So, when Blaine showed up in the middle of the afternoon, somewhere in between lunch and dinner, because they'd reached the point in the summer where days were measure by meals and not hours, Mike really wasn't that bothered.<p>

He had been laying on his couch, idly flipping through channels when he heard a car door open. With a quick glance out the window he identified his friend's car, and maybe it was in his haste at this moment to get the television changed to the correct input that he missed the other door opening and closing.

After the doorbell rang through the otherwise empty house he walked to the door, but on the other side it was not what he expected. Blaine was standing in his Dalton sweatpants and matching sweatshirt with his head ducked low. Immediately Mike worried something had happened with Kurt, or his dads, but his words only caused him to question.

"Don't kill me," Blaine mumbled, and at that moment his head lifted and his eyes looked like they were begging for forgiveness, personifying the puppy in him. Mike's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you-" he started his statement, only to have it drop off when he noticed another pair of feet behind Blaine. He hadn't been looking for it, so he hadn't noticed. He saw a smaller figure, feet in flats just about a foot behind him, and seeing as she was shorter than him, she was practically unnoticeable. He groaned and just as he did their usual pest peeked her head over his shoulder.

"What the hell, man? He asked with an annoyed tone, causing Rachel's energetic smile, that had shown her pride for the surprise, to fade.

"Come in," he said reluctantly and pushed the door open. Rachel came striding in first past a lackluster Blaine.

"So, what are we going to do?" She asked with an excitement he didn't even want to begin to understand.

"Blaine and I," Mike said pointedly, "Are going to finish the Mario Kart tournament we started." Mike and Blaine were Toad and Yoshi respectively. "You," he said to the younger girl as she walked over to the couch, despite him not inviting her to take a seat. "Aren't going to bother us."

"I won't, I promise," she said and tugged at the bottom of her skirt that had been swishing behind her as she walked. Not that Mike had noticed.

Blaine walked in solemnly, hands pushed into his sweatshirt pocket and took the place that would be between his best friend and his sister. Mike followed and sat down, handing him a controller, before Rachel leaned over to her brother and fixed the hood of his jacket.

"You know, Blaine, I really am more fond of your accessories. I don't see why you didn't put any one this morning." She stated simply and then pat his shoulder affectionately.

The both always commented on each other's clothes, them being the only one's who really understood why they wore what they did. Mike had learned to pick conversations carefully with the Berrys. This was one that he knew he was supposed to stay out of.

"It's summer, Rach. You don't have to dress up for everything." He murmured in reply and immediately she let out a small humph and her hands toyed with the edge of her skirt. He sighed heavily, as if knowing he'd said something wrong. "Although, I do appreciate your skirts." Mike glanced to see Blaine's lips twitching into a smirk, and he knew something was coming that would get her riled up. "Although, you could pull them down a bit. I don't exactly like the idea of my baby sister flashing everybody."

Her jaw literally dropped and she stood up, hands on her waits. Mike took the half second his eyes lingered to observe how the skirt laid just on her hips and cut off mid-thigh. Immediately his eyes flicked downward and he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It wasn't usually acceptable to look at his friend's sister for too long. Anyways, should he be scoffing at her outfit for too long, her diva attitude might come out, and nobody wants to deal with that. Ever.

"I'll have you know, they don't make skirts the correct length for a waist of my size," she stated factually. "Plus, I'm not that much younger than you are."

"You could still wear tights or something." Blaine grumbled, seeing a little more of his sister's thigh than he wanted to each account that she wore a skirt of that style.

"Stop complaining, Blainers. If Daddy approves, then you have no right to tell me to change." Blaine rolled his eyes. Of course Daddy approved. Daddy always approved if it made his little girl happy. Mike saw the tension rising and but in.

"We going to play a game or complain about clothes all day?" Mike asked, his voice low and he elbowed Blaine in the side. His thumbs fumbled with the controller, needing to find something to do with his hands.

"Game, definitely game," Blaine replied with ease and nodded towards the doorway to another room. "Why don't you go watch TV in there or something?"

Mike shook his head at Blaine's suggestion. "No TV in there, remember, man?" Blaine arched an eyebrow, seeming to forget the incident in which they broke the already cheap TV that was in the other room. "Come on, you can not honestly say you forgot. With the football?" Blaine remained puzzled. "And you kicked it." Mike said, his tone annoyed at this point. Finally Blaine's face dropped as he recognized the specific event.

"Oh, right. No TV in there," Blaine murmured. "What about there?" He gestured to another room and Mike once again shook his head.

"Nope, parent's room. TV is off limits." Mike thought it was a dumb rule, but he figured he would understand when he was married someday. He then sighed and drop the controller on the couch, anticipating the next suggestion. "Fine, you can watch TV in my room or something. Follow me."

He stood and walked past her, not giving his eyes a chance to wander and she followed behind him to a door that had a street sign on it. One stolen by his older cousin who found it and had to get t because it clearly read "Michael" on the green background. Rachel couldn't seem to hold her words in.

"You didn't steal this did you?" She said with a shocked tone and it elicited a laugh from the guy two years her senior.

"No, I'm not exactly a rebel." He replied with a grin and opened the door to show his room with one dark blue wall contrasting with the others. The desk was cluttered with pictures and envelopes from the local Walgreens. A Nikon sat with the prints and there were various pictures of things, not necessarily people, posted on the wall. Mike walked in and Rachel hesitated in the doorway for just a moment. He began picking up a few pieces of paper, as well as his clothes that were scattered on the floor and tossed them in their correct places. Rachel wandered her way in as he hurried around the room and she was attracted to the desk.

"These your pictures?" Rachel asked quietly and without giving a glance, only a pause to consider his answer, he replied.

"Yeah, all of them," he replied flatly the activity of photography a back burner hobby to his dancing, though he probably enjoyed them equally. He looked up to see her rifling through the pictures on the desk. It was odd, he noticed the ones she had picked up and he walked over to her, taking them from her hand.

"If you're going to be in here, don't mess with my stuff." He looked at the picture on the top of the stack. It was a timing experiment he'd while dancing and the motive was to get a clear photo of him turning, no shirt due to the excessive amount of time he'd been dancing, and just workout pants on. He remembered that day. His parents had told him he was wasting his time on trivial things, dancing and photography specifically. He had set to prove them wrong and though the picture meant something to him, and was an accomplishment due to the lack of blur and the angle at which his turn had been caught, he hardly believe they would change his parent's minds.

"That you?" She questioned, looking over at the picture still, not realizing he'd been examining the picture for so long.

"No, he said bitterly, and pushed the pictures back into their sleeve. "It's my evil twin, Bike," to which Rachel rolled her eyes. She crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed with hardly a sound.

"No need to get defensive. I was just wondering because they're good." She shrugged and he felt a bit of ride at her words. Some outside opinion always helped, be it from his friend's little sister who currently sat on his bed or the photography teacher after school.

Wait. Back that up. His friend's sister. Was on his bed. That wasn't weird, right? He looked over at Rachel, legs crossed and palms pressing back on the mattress behind her. That skirt was shorter than Mike had realized. A part of him wondered if her hair was soft, or if she smelled good, or…what. No.

Maybe he shouldn't have backed up. He swallowed thickly and then began to back out of the room.

"Um. Thanks. Remote's on the bedside table." He said a little hurried and then closed the door behind him.

Toad. Toad. Toad.

He chanted to himself to get his mind back on the game. The game. That's what was happening today. Video games.

"Hey, man, you okay?" He heard Blaine's voice and that's what snapped him out of his odd daze.

"What?" He said and blinked himself back into the space. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just kind of hungry. You want something?"

"Nah, I'm fine. You might want to get some dust while you're in there." Blaine said, trying to hold back the smile that showed his intentions. Mike sighed, waiting for the punch line.

"And why is that, Blainers?" Mike said with a smirked, but Blaine, not noticing for the moment, happily replied.

"So you can eat it!" He declared and then broke into a fit of laughter before catching Mike's off handed insult. "Hey, wait! It's only okay when Rach says that!" He said and then crossed his arms, falling back on the couch with a frown.

"You really need to work on your trash talk, man."


	3. Like an Open Book

AN: Hey, guys! I plan on updating my other story very, very soon and I really hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm trying to take it slow, but it's hard not to just jump into things. Let me know what you think and what you want to see. :)

Thanks for reading and thanks for your time! :)

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><p>Mike rolled out of bed that morning, patted down his bed head and forced himself to get out of the house. It was still summer, with lots of summer remaining, so it wasn't like he <em>needed<em> to. It was more of a self discipline thing he tried to apply. And seeing as Blaine was spending a lot of time with Kurt, designated boyfriend time, he needed to keep himself busy. Summer homework was a usual burden, so Mike decided to knock that out this particular week, as to not overwhelm him to the point of a breakdown. He piled some books into his backpack, that he would have to admit may have needed a little dusting, his parents headed to their workplace early that morning, where he believed they should start being more often. He trudged his way to the library, it not being far from his home and being lazy wasn't really something he was fond of. He munched on original Lay's chips along the way, having to wipe his greasy fingers on the front of his pants when he reached the doors.

At first he thought the library was closed except for staff, seeing as there were only a couple cars in the parking lot, but pulling on the handle, it proved to be open. He tossed the empty bag in the trash, adjusting the strap of his backpack on one of his shoulders.

He sighed, unaware of the few people that did happen to be linger around the tables, and though the abandoned tables seemed appealing, Mike knew of a place that most older people avoided, but he couldn't help but steer towards upon entering the building. The most awkward thing wasn't that he knew of an old, decrepit couch in the corner; it was that the corner happened to be in the picture book only section of the library, a place he would never frequent, but he was having a rather comfortable day and being able to do his homework with the books he needed just shelves away, and a cushiony couch, then he was sure it would stay that way.

He looked around, making sure it didn't seem to odd for him to be walking that direction, and luckily there were no kids lingering to question him. Though, should anybody care, the William McKinley letterman would probably tip them off to the fact that he didn't belong there. He ducked behind a shelf, made a few turns before there was a sight before him he never wished to see. His eyes widened and he practically choked on air.

"Rachel?" He asked, his voice finding it hard to come out as not only was it Rachel laying on the couch (which would have been plenty of a surprise in itself), but above her was the awkward body of Finn Hudson, clunky frame laying over her and a meaty palm up her skirt and remaining at her ass even at Mike's words. Her legs were on either side of him, hands tangled into his hair and his mouth was not near her lips but the collar of her shirt. Their eyes met and her's widened and immediately she began shifting, Finn still working the pale innocent skin of her sternum. She became flushed as Finn wasn't hesitating in showing his appreciation, the movement being misinterpreted as desperate writhing. She hit him on the arm.

"Finn! Stop it!" She said and Mike turned his head away, not wanting to see that happening to Blaine's sister, who was practically his own. He went around the corner, trying to focus on the simple children's books while he heard her still struggling.

"Finn!" She squeaked out and he could only imagine what he'd done, either tightening his grip or lips going somewhere they weren't supposed to. He heard rustling and hushed whispers before heavy footsteps were making their way through the shelves and leaving, smaller ones rounding the same corner he just had. He looked down to see a distressed Rachel, arms crossed over her chest and shirt unbuttoned just one button too far.

"Sorry," she mumbled and slowly began to fix her clothing while looking at the boy who was two years her senior, the same age as the one that had just been even closer.

"Don't say sorry to me," he said, like the idea was ridiculous, because it was Rachel that should be hearing the sorry. His eyes stayed fixated on the colorful spines of picture books. "You shouldn't let him treat you like that." He stated, trying to reach some disconnect with his words, but also remind her that he was much concerned as Blaine would have been had he seen the same situation.

Rachel huffed. "I don't let him treat me like anything. I'll have you know I consented to that." Her tone wasn't necessarily confident, but steady, and that was plenty. "Plus, it wasn't his fault, it started out just talking."

"Right, because right after I break up with a girl I go to just talk to them." Mike scoffed and shook his head, turning to the petite female.

"You don't know what he was thinking…" she trailed off, knowing her argument was becoming weaker, but wanting to defend Finn and attempt to say they were trying to get back together. That's all. She so desperately wanted a boyfriend going into her sophomore year of high school, and a senior would be the perfect kind of boyfriend to have, even if he was a little handsy.

"You back together?" Mike asked, causing Rachel's eyes to drop. She idly patted down her skirt and then shook her head, tears pricking the corner of her eyes that Mike didn't notice at the moment. It wasn't until after the fact that he realized these kind of comments were only okay for Rachel's brother, not her. "When did you think he was going to ask you to be his girlfriend again? _Before _or _after _you got him off in the back corner of the library?" He laughed softly and knew he was being blunt, and then knew, by her sniffling beside him that he'd passed the line to insensitive. He turned to see a tear rolling down her cheek and her hand reached up to wipe her eyes. A part of him yearned to make her feel better.

"Hey," he said hoping she'd look up at him. "Hey, look at me," he said sternly, leaning down to meet her eyes. "Look at me," he said, his tone changing as he reached forward, his hands gently meeting her cheeks and lifting her head. Her face automatically softened as did his.

"Stop that," he scolded and for some reason the way her eyes widened he had to keep himself from laughing. His thumb caught a few tears that fell, her eyes blinking slower than usual. "Stop crying over some stupid guy. He doesn't deserve this. He didn't do anything good enough to make you feel this bad about losing him." She sniffled and her eyes finally locked on his and she nodded. He sighed, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm sure you've heard you'll find some great guy, right? Well, I'm not going to feed you some crap to you, because we're all jerks. You just have to settle for the least jerkish guy you can find." She finally cracked a smile and he released the laugh he'd fully been holding back, she joined his laughter and his hands dropped. "I'll tell you right now, Finn isn't the least jerkish." She nodded in reply.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she murmured and Mike shook his head, shrugging his backpack off and putting it on the ground by the shelf opposite them.

"I know I'm right," Mike said flatly, Rachel crossing her arms again in opposition.

"Well, you can't _know_," She said pointedly, trying to find leeway in his statement.

"I know you deserve better," he said distractedly, pulling one of the books off the shelf that he used to read as a child and pretending to flip through the pages. Out of the corner of his eyes the crookedness of her skirt showed, one side rising higher than the other.

"You know, sometimes you really annoy me," she started and he attempted to interrupt.

"Hey, I was just trying to-" and he was cut off by her hand grabbing his wrist almost playfully.

The action may have seemed odd, but exclusively in the Berry family (and Mike had picked up the habit, too) it meant more than it looked. Hiram and Leroy were stern parents, but didn't want to resort to yelling or spanking when raising their children. This touch had been developed and using only for important situations. It simply meant:

Just listen.

All of the Berry's were opinionated and firm, it was just in their nature, and developing this gave time to paused and just listen to what needed to be said. Mike had been witness to such actions, but had never had it actually done to him, and only retorted to using it once on Blaine when he wouldn't listen to his video game tactics.

"Let me finish," she said sternly. "And sometimes you're a better big brother than Blaine," he couldn't help but laugh and finally when she dropped her hand, she adjusted her skirt.

"Thanks, Rachie," he said teasingly, as if she were actually his little sister, she might as well have been. He placed the book back on the shelf.

"I only speak the truth, Mikey," He rolled his eyes and then leaned down to his bag, plucking the book out of his bag in moments. She strode back to the couch and damned if his eyes didn't follow the swish of her skirt for half a second before he realized what he was doing. He tucked the book under his arm, grabbed the strap of his bag with a free hand, completely ready to head the other direction.

"Join me?" She asked softly and he turned to face her. She had pulled a legitimate book out from the side of the couch and was holding it in her lap. His face turned up in disgust and he shook his head, even so, he walked over in that direction and sat down on the ground against a wall at the end of the nearest shelf, the space a little tight for two, but he was sure if she wanted to join they could make it work.

She raised an eyebrow at his suspicious actions, beginning a silent communication. He nodded towards the couch and she looked down as if trying to find something. He rolled his eyes and sighed, and then exaggeratedly gave her a suggestive look and he could almost literally see her cheeks change shades at the recognition and she stood up from the couch to go sit beside him. She sat in the small space beside him and it wasn't until then did Mike realize how thin her frame was, how fragile and small she seemed next to him and how she wanted to wrap her in his arms and protect her from everything. He assumed it was the big brother part in him taking over that he'd never used before.

"Jerk," she murmured weakly before hitting him on the arm with little effort, her head following to rest on his shoulder. He looked down at her, almost uncomfortable at the position this put him, but like she said, he was like a second brother to her. Blaine and her got much closer than this on occasion. She opened her book and then he followed, cracking open his book beginning to read.


End file.
